Car
A car is a wheeled, self-powered motor vehicle used for transportation and a product of the automotive industry. Most definitions of the term specify that cars are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels with tires, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods. The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the modern car. In that year, German inventor Karl Benz built the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Cars did not become widely available until the early 20th century. One of the first cars that was accessible to the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the United States of America, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts, but took much longer to be accepted in Western Europe and other parts of the world. In the early 21st Century Autonomous cars or "Autos" began to gradually enter the market as companies like Tesla, Alphabet, and Mercedes-Benz began experimenting with "auto-pilot" and eventually "self-driving" technology. By mid-century, no automakers were producing vehicles that required manual control from a human driver. History The earliest known example of a first full-scale, self-propelled mechanical vehicle, or automobile, was built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769. He created a steam-powered tricycle, and later built two steam tractors for the French Army. Late 18th and early 19th century automobiles like Cugnot's were little more than steam driven wagons with limited control and limited speed, making them impractical for general use. By the late 19th Century steam cars and early internal combustion engines reduced weight, increased speed, and made cars more practical, but they remained luxury items, custom built for the very wealthy. The adoption of the internal combustion engine would leave a lasting mark on automobile design and market adoption, as internal combustion engines were more compact and required less maintenance than steam. Karl Benz's Motorwagen in 1886 established the basic principles of automobile design for the next century while Ransom Olds and Henry Ford refined both the design and the manufacturing process to enable mass-market adoption of the automobile in the United States by the 1910s. Over the next half century automotive engineering made rapid advancements in both powerplants, drivetrains, and safety features, however the basic nature of automobiles still consisted of a human driver and a hydrocarbon burning internal combustion engine. Near the end of the 20th century public concerns over the impact of automobile emissions on Earth's climate had lead to several peace-meal pollution controls, and the 2000s energy crisis led to the introduction of electric power plants in the form of "Hybrid" gas-electric vehicles and the rise of Tesla and the early generation of fully electric vehicles. By the late 2010s, autonomous driving systems began to enter the market as well. During the Late 2010s Recession the explosion of bad credit resulted in a sharp decline in new automotive sales. Chrysler filed for bankruptcy in 2019 as a result; Toyota reduced its output in the United States, and Tesla only remained in business due to high sales of solar cells and battery packs. Manufacturers began adopting smaller vehicle designs with less power and greater efficiency that could be sold to individuals with poor credit. Autonomous driving features continued to enter the marketplace thanks to large contracts with ride-share companies like Lyft and Uber. The first truly autonomous car to achieve mass market adoption was the Tesla Model Y, which underwent several major design revisions as a result of the 2010s Recession, and saw its release date delayed by 2 years. The Model Y was a 2 person self-driving vehicle costing 9,000-USD in 2022. The Model Y proved to be one of the most popular cars ever built, selling more than 14 million units over its 20 years in production despite featuring very few amenities. The success of the Model Y (with more than half a million pre-orders in 2021) led to GM partnering with Waymo in 2021 to introduce its own autonomous series of vehicles with the Nu Platform in 2023. The Nu series of vehicles followed the design philosophy of 2-3 seat fully electric vehicles operating on autonomous control. One of the more significant changes to the market during this era was the abandonment of the dealership system in favor of online purchases that manufacturers took direct control over; this was introduced under Tesla, but achieved mass market adoption as the industry contracted during the late 2010s and 2020s. By the 2040s most car manufacturers had adopted the self driving platform, and manual controls ceased to be included as standard features. Personal wealth and automated manufacturing reduced costs and resulted in vehicles growing in size once more. After World War III new technologies and infrastructure improvements made in the previous decades made cars more versatile. Around this point, it became common for cars to be fitted with magnetic-levitation devices to allow them to use Hyperloop routes. Category:Technology